To physicians 40 years ago, the living brain was a jungle of tangled nerve fibres, a mass of corrugated grey tissue. A few brave men dared to perform brain operations, but most of their patients died. In 1905 young Surgeon Harvey Williams Cushing penetrated this wilderness, and in 28 years, almost singlehanded, he perfected the technique of brain and nerve operations. Today, thanks to Dr. Cushing, an operation for brain tumor is no more dangerous than a stomach operation.
Six years ago wiry, bright-eyed Dr. Cushing laid down his scalpel. But neither his patients...
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